32 



has undermined the merits of the concept of watershed manage- 

 ment over the last 40 years. 



The Public Law 566 program has several sound elements that 

 embody concepts of watershed management. It provides Federal 

 cost-share funds for matching by local governments. Besides Fed- 

 eral technical assistance to those local governments for planning 

 and implementation, it fosters competitive bidding for funds, in 

 theory awarding funds to the best projects. 



However, it usually has been implemented in ways harmful to 

 fisheries, wildlife and aquatic ecosystems. WMI has been monitor- 

 ing the Small Watershed Program for decades. Most of the time our 

 involvement has been to oppose funding and projects in order to 

 minimize degradation of waterways and wetlands that too often 

 has resulted. Ironically, that opposition always has been made 

 while recognizing that the program has potential to achieve envi- 

 ronmental, as well as societal benefits. 



The record of accomplishment of the program is illustrative. 

 Flood prevention by damming and channelizing naturally function- 

 ing streams and rivers and isolating them from their floodplains by 

 levees is the primary purpose of more than 1,300 Public Law 566 

 projects. Drainage is the primary purpose of more than 300. 



On the other hand, watershed protection using nonstructural 

 land treatment measures is a primary purpose of only 230 projects. 

 Fish and wildlife is a purpose of only 96 projects, and water quality 

 is the primary purpose of only about 41. The program has channel- 

 ized over the years 11,646 miles of streams and rivers in 47 States; 

 3,290 miles of channels remain approved in existing plans in their 

 $1.2 billion backlog. More than 8,000 dams have been constructed 

 by the program; another 3,500 await funding. The program itself 

 has drained or made possible the drainage of millions of acres of 

 wetlands. 



The end results of flood control activities conducted under Public 

 Law 566 in general have been continued flooding, increased flood 

 damages, continued taxpayer expenditures for disaster relief, and 

 continued taxpayer expenditures for replacement and maintenance 

 of structures and dysfunctional waterways that usually provide re- 

 duced fish and wildlife habitats. Public Law 566 literally is one of 

 the main reasons for the need for all the aquatic ecosystem restora- 

 tion bills we have been discussing here today. 



There are several reasons for its poor environmental record. Too 

 much emphasis has been placed on stimulating marginal, high- 

 risk, production on floodplain lands of agriculture commodities that 

 already are in oversupply because of other existing agriculture sub- 

 sidies. Cost-share rates always have been and still are legislatively 

 weighted toward short-term, high-impact structural activities and 

 away from long-term solutions. Local project sponsors possess too 

 much decisionmaking authority and too little Federal guidance on 

 acceptable and unacceptable activities. SCS generally has been ex- 

 tremely reluctant to interfere with local sponsors by criticizing or 

 rejecting poor project decisions. 



SCS, to its credit, recently has begun to acknowledge these prob- 

 lems and initiate administrative action to solve some of them. For 

 example, water quality is becoming a primary purpose of more and 

 more projects conducted under this program in the last few years. 



